Tour de France Hall of Fame

Jun 16, 2011

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Henri Desgrange

Over lunch at a Parisian restaurant in November 1902, Henri Desgrange and a colleague came up with an idea that would change the course of cycling forever: a multiday stage race that they would call the “Tour de France.” The editor of a French sports newspaper called L’Auto, Desgrange thought this new style of bicycle road race would be a terrific publicity stunt. At the time, most newspapers organized and promoted bicycle races, as they were a perfect vehicle for generating and reporting news.

Desgrange originally envisioned the race to be a five-week event from, May 31 to July 1, but when only 15 cyclists registered, he pushed back the start and shortened the race from five weeks to a bit less than three. A constant innovator, Desgrange brought the race to the Alps in 1905 and the Pyrenees in 1910 as he found high mountains made the race more competitive. While not a popular choice with the riders—many cursed him for the pain and suffering the mountains inflicted—spectators were nonetheless transfixed. Thanks to his vision and an unwavering belief that bicycle racing should be grueling, the Tour de France is arguably the world’s greatest sporting event.

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Fausto Coppi

Had World War II not interrupted his career, Fausto Coppi might be universally known as the greatest cyclist who ever lived. After spending much of the war as a POW, Coppi participated in his first Tour de France in 1949, weeks after winning the Giro d’Italia. Despite being on an Italian national team that also boasted the legendary Gino Bartali—himself a two-time Tour winner and the defending champion—Coppi prevailed in his first try, defeating his teammate to win the race by nearly 11 minutes.

Coppi won the Giro-Tour double again in 1952, making him the first rider to do it twice during his career. He took the lead for good in the 1952 Tour de France by being the first to the summit of a new climb: Alpe d’Huez. Coppi’s performance was so dominant that the race organization had to double the prize money for the second and third place finishers, just to keep the race competitive for the remaining participants—and exciting for its fans.

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Jacques Anquetil

The first five-time winner in the history of the Tour de France, Jacques Anquetil was one of the most colorful champions in the history of the race. Born in Normandy, Anquetil burst onto the scene with a win in the 1957 Tour—his first try at the three-week event. A spectacular time trialist who could measure his efforts precisely, Anquetil’s economical style was not immediately popular with French fans that craved champions with panache. Using the individual time trail to gain a big lead and then defending it in the mountains, it was said that Anquetil could not be dropped—but nor could he drop anyone either.

After his win in 1957, Anquetil had to wait until 1961 to take his next Tour victory, but he did it in style by becoming the first Frenchman to wear the yellow jersey from the first day through to the last. He went on to win the next three editions, the last of which was his closest, as he beat compatriot Raymond Poulidor by a mere 55 seconds.

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Raymond Poulidor

Raymond Poulidor’s career unfortunately bookended those of two of the Tour de France’s greatest champions, Jacques Anquetil and Eddy Merckx. As a result, the popular Frenchman never won his country’s biggest prize nor wore the yellow jersey as race leader—ever. Despite this gaping hole on his resume, Poulidor deserves mention for his unwavering determination, a characteristic that endeared him to home fans who identified with his “never say die” attitude. By the end of his career, Poulidor finished the Tour de France 12 times, finishing second three times, third five times, and seventh, eighth, and ninth once. He won seven stages along the way.

Poulidor came closest to winning the Tour in 1964 when he and Jacques Anquetil went into the final two stages with less than a minute between them. On the penultimate stage, Poulidor narrowed his deficit to 14 seconds on the Puy de Dome, an extinct volcano that constituted the final summit finish of the race. Unfortunately, Anquetil’s superior time-trialing skills reigned supreme the following day, and the four-time champion emerged victorious in the final stage’s race against the clock.

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Eddy Merckx

Eddy Merckx won 525 races throughout his storied career, so it’s no surprise to learn that he was the first rider to equal Anquetil’s record of five Tour de France victories. After becoming the first Belgian to win the Giro d’Italia in 1968, there was much anticipation ahead of Merckx’s 1969 Tour de France debut. “The Cannibal” did not disappoint either. He dominated the race from start to finish to win by almost 18 minutes. Merckx also won the green and polka-dot jersey competitions—the only rider ever to have accomplished such a feat in the Tour de France.

But while five Tour victories is no small accomplishment, Merckx might have won more had it not been for several twists of fate. In 1973, he changed to a new team that required him to race both the Tour of Italy and the Tour of Spain. Afraid that three grand tours might be too much for one season (at that time the Tour of Spain was held in April), Merckx skipped the Tour de France, honoring his sponsor’s request.

In 1975, Merckx was on his way to winning what would have been an unprecedented sixth Tour when a French fan punched him in the abdomen while climbing the Puy de Dome at the end of Stage 14. The attack ruined Merckx’s Tour—he would end the race in second place, 2:47 behind the winner, Bernard Thevenet of France. After the incident, Merckx was never the same. He skipped the Tour in 1976 and finished a relatively lackluster sixth in 1977—his final Tour de France. Had it not been for that fateful day on the Puy de Dome, there’s no telling what he might have achieved.

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Bernard Hinault

After years of watching their nation’s greatest riders defeated by men from abroad, the French yearned for a champion who could dominate the race in a fashion to similar to the late, great Jacques Anquetil. Yes, Bernard Thevenet won the Tour de France in 1975 and 1977, but his wins were far from spectacular. The French craved someone aggressive, someone with an indomitable spirit—someone like Bernard Hinault.

Hinault won his first Tour de France in 1978. With three days left to race, on the eve of the individual time trial from Metz to Nancy, Hinault found himself 14 seconds behind Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk. Hinault must have smelled blood in the water—he had already won the Tour’s first race against the clock and knew he was a much better time trialist than his wiry rival. The next day, he defeated Zoetemelk by more than four minutes, and the yellow jersey was his for good.

Hinault went on to win four more Tours de France: 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985. He joined Anquetil and Merckx as the only five-time champions in the history of the race to date. A fiery and sometimes arrogant champion, Hinault was never afraid to speak his mind, a trait he maintains to this day while working for the Tour de France organization each summer.

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Joop Zoetemelk

One of the Tour de France’s true ironmen, Joop Zoetemelk holds the record for having finished each of the 16 Tours de France that he started (American George Hincapie can tie the record this year and break it in 2012). Of his 16 finishes, the Dutchman finished in the Tour de France top 10 on 12 occasions—a staggering six of them as runner-up. A talented climber, Zoetemelk struggled against the clock and therefore often found himself losing to better time trialists, such as Merckx and Hinault.

In 1980 the cycling gods smiled on Zoetemelk. As captain of the TI-Raleigh team, the plan was to cover Bernard Hinault’s every move, essentially marking the two-time defending champion out of the race. The strategy worked perfectly as Zoetemelk took yellow after a difficult mountain stage from Pau to Bagnères-de-Luchon. Hinault abandoned the race in frustration, leaving Zoetemelk with a clear and easy path to take his one and only Tour de France victory.

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Greg LeMond

Greg LeMond won the United States its first Tour de France in 1986 after overcoming a difficult situation in which he found himself sharing the leadership of his team with Bernard Hinault—who himself was looking to win what would have been an unprecedented sixth Tour de France. LeMond survived the infighting and criticism from journalists and fans, ultimately defeating his teammate with a gutsy ride in the Alps to claim his first yellow jersey. Unfortunately, while hunting in April 1987, LeMond was accidentally shot by his brother-in-law, leaving him with over 40 shotgun pellets lodged in his chest. LeMond missed the following two Tours de France, but came back in 1989 to win the closest Tour de France in history.

Trailing Frenchman and two-time Tour champion Laurent Fignon by 50 seconds heading into the final stage—a 25-kilometer individual time trial that finished on Paris’s Champs Elysees—LeMond needed the ride of his life to complete his comeback, as Fignon was one of the best time trialists in the world. Unafraid to try modern equipment, LeMond raced with a special helmet and aero bars to give him a more efficient and aerodynamic position, and it worked. The American defeated the Frenchman and won the Tour de France by eight seconds—the closest winning margin in Tour history. And just to prove that his comeback was no fluke, LeMond won his third Tour de France the following year.

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Miguel Indurain

From 1991 to 1995, Spain’s Miguel Indurain dominated the Tour de France in a fashion not seen in years, winning five consecutive editions to join Anquetil, Merckx, and Hinault in the record books. “Big Mig’s” formula was simple: Put minutes into the competition during the Tour’s first long individual time trial, then follow them in the mountains until they explode.

It comes as no surprise that Indurain was not known for launching blistering attacks in an effort to drop his rivals. But all that changed on the road from Charleroi to Liege on Stage 7 of the 1995 Tour. On a hilly course resembling the final half of the Liege-Bastonge-Liege spring classic, Indurain attacked with ONCE’s Johan Bruyneel. The move surprised everyone in the peloton as most assumed he was waiting for the next day’s individual time trial to begin building his lead. Indurain and Bruyneel finished the stage together, with Bruyneel getting the stage win and Indurain pocketing nearly a minute over the competition. Adding insult to injury, he won the next day’s time trial—the Tour was his.

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Erik Zabel

Many assume that the Tour de France’s green jersey goes to the race’s best sprinter. And while this is usually the case during the race’s early stages, by the end of the Tour the green jersey champion is often the race’s most consistent rider throughout the entire three-week event. The record for the most green jersey titles is held by Germany’s Erik Zabel. He won the green jersey an astonishing six times, from 1996 through 2001. He also finished second twice and third four times.

Zabel combined a powerful finishing sprint with the endurance to last a grueling three-week event, which enabled him to earn points long after other sprinters had abandoned. His most dramatic green jersey win came in 2001. Zabel needed to finish higher than Australia’s Stuart O’Grady on the final stage to win back the jersey he had lost two weeks earlier. And while he didn’t win the stage—the Czech rider Jan Svorada did—Zabel finished second and O’Grady third, giving the German his sixth and final green jersey.

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Richard Virenque

What Erik Zabel was to the green jersey, France’s Richard Virenque was to the red-and-white polka-dot jersey awarded the to the race’s best climber. Virenque won legions of French fans with a dramatic Pyrenean stage win in the 1994 Tour de France. The victory gave Virenque the lead in the King of the Mountains competition, and a star was born.

Despite the doping scandals that plagued him at the peak of his career, Virenque remained a popular rider. Once it became clear that he would never contend for overall victory in the Tour—his time trialing skills were far too weak—he chose instead to focus on stage wins and the polka-dot jersey. These newer goals suited his punchy, aggressive style well. By the end of his career, Virenque took home the jersey a record seven times, winning seven stages along the way.

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Lance Armstrong

While fans, pundits, and lawyers argue over Lance Armstrong’s legacy, his record stands: seven consecutive Tour de France victories. When he began his professional career, winning the Tour de France wasn’t on Lance Armstrong’s radar, though. An aggressive, powerful rider built more for one-day classics than three-week Grand Tours, the Texan was never mentioned in the “future Tour contender” conversations.

But then came testicular cancer and Armstrong’s renewed outlook on life—and his career. At the 1999 Tour de France, Armstrong’s first since 1996, the American won the opening prologue time trial, a result thought by many to be nothing more than a fluke. But they were proven wrong nine days later when Armstrong won the Tour’s first long time trial, in Metz, and then the race’s first mountain stage in Sestriere. For everyone watching, it was a miraculous comeback; to those closest to Armstrong, it was anything but.

The American went on to win six more Tours and 22 stages. His meticulous preparation and cunning demeanor posed a formidable challenge to all who dared oppose him. Today, the Texan faces what some consider his biggest fight yet, a federal investigation into alleged doping.

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